'Under The Skin' A Review

Under The Skin is an abstract alien thriller, the first movie from director Jonathan Glazer in a decade. The film opens with an extended abstract sequence out of space and time. With a harsh black and white setting and an even harsher score the first ten minutes of the movie have no dialogue and make no sense. We are then jolted to Scotland with the nameless lead played by Scarlett Johansson. She spends the majority of the movie driving around blank faced picking up men in order to lure them to her home. After she gets them their we see another abstract sequence in which the men are consumed by a goopy mirror like black tar.

The film has moments of brilliance. Some inspired physicality by Johansson, one moment specifically where she is naked in front of a space heater slowly and quietly examining her body. The nudity throughout the film is treated with a refreshing lack of sexuality and there are more dicks than boobs in the film(also refreshing). There are some beautiful shots of Scotland and some beautifully captured normal Scottish folks.

There is however no semblance of plot, narrative, or character. No semblance of motivation, change, or resolution. With dialogue so sparse and unclear it virtually doesn't exist the film recedes so far away from convention there is not only no text there is no subtext. Its abstraction is so drastic it belies its self-proclaimed premise.

Under The Skin has a steady and unavoidable stench of pretension. With numerous bizarre and shocking moments transparently contrived both self-serving and self-satisfied. A message so far distant from the actual content of the film you could make a case its about anything.

A visually interesting, narratively frustrating, ultimately unsatisfying alien movie more about metaphor deconstruction than aliens.

Don't See It.